Wisconsin Girls Attempt to Become “Proxies” of Slender Man

Two 12-year-old girls are facing charges after brutally stabbing a friend in a small wooded area in southeastern Wisconsin. Their alleged motive? The attempted murder was meant to be an offering to the Slender Man.

Thankfully, the victim is in stable condition. She was stabbed 19 times.

If you aren’t familiar with the Slender Man, he’s an Internet urban legend that appeared in 2009. The story evolved from just a couple images and a few strange captions, and told of a slender man wearing a suit and tie, with long, tentacle-like arms. His face is featureless, and you’ll often see (fake) images of him haunting children.

But those are just stories.

It’s unclear whether the girls actually believe the mythical creature is real or if they’re using Slender Man as some kind of excuse for their horrific actions. Perhaps it doesn’t really matter.

I suppose this raises an interesting question regarding how stories on the Internet may be perceived by certain people, particularly younger children. The truth is that some, unfortunately, may have trouble separating fantasy from reality.

Even if the slender man is an urban legend, there very many things that are similar to the slender man, such as the rake, the dark man, shadow people. Also certain Fea, which in old folklore are depicted as dark, evil being who prey upon children.